Adventures Of Sonic The Werehog
by NotAnotherFanficWriter
Summary: An adaptation of Sonic Unleashed in the style of Adventures Of Sonic The Hedgehog.
1. Scratch And Grounder Get It Right

If you went back far enough, it was really the caretaker who was to blame for the great calamity that befell Mobius that year. Sam was an old dog (literally) at Spagona University and had worked there for many decades (some students would even say centuries). His continuous employment however was more to do with his sentimental rather than practical value as the years had worn on his cleaning and maintenance duties. Even in his younger days he had a habit of making amusing muddles; like waxing the lawns then mowing the gym floor or confusing Fahrenheit with Celsius on the thermostats (although that could get rather annoying in winter). This bumbling was further exacerbated by poor eyesight which Sam refused to deal with, and he was a little bit deaf. So maybe it was the University's management to blame for all the trouble that the planet would go through in the coming weeks.

Sam was going about his usual evening lockup of the archaeological department at SU. He had just watered a painting of some tulips, deposited an empty soda can into an ancient amphora and in the process of picking it up had knocked over a row of suits of armour causing a tremendous clang of metal which Sam completely failed to notice. He also failed to notice another sound of clanking metal, this time coming from outside. Two robots, one a lanky silver chicken and the other a squat turquoise robot with caterpillar treads and drills for hands and nose. Scratch and Grounder, Badniks in service of evil genius Dr Robotnik, were skulking outside in the dusk.

"Are you sure this is the right place?" said Grounder.

"Of course it is dimbot! _I_ brought us here!" snapped Scratch smacking Grounder on the back of the head.

The two did not have time to argue however as Sam had appeared outside and was putting a key into the lock of the oak front door. Scratch and Grounder carefully (which given their clumsiness was not very) snuck up behind the old dog, only for him to snap round to face them and say, "My, what are these suits of armour doing outside?"

Before they could do anything Sam picked up the two robots with a strength that belonged to man thrice his size, opened the door, and placed them on top of the pile of metal garments that was the row of armour. He then closed the door to the building muttering under his breath something about 'those darn students' while Scratch and Grounder were still trying to grasp what had just happened.

They regained their composure and quickly set off for a room labelled 'Storage' which was filled with row upon row of shelves on which sat various archaeological finds. They walked along the ends of the shelves until the came to the one marked 'G'.

"Right, it should be along here," said Scratch as he looked up and down the shelves.

"What are looking for again?" Grounder asked.

"Do you even listen to me? A metal box labelled Gaia ya klutz!" replied an exasperated Scratch.

"Like this one?" said Grounder, producing a metal box with the word 'Gaia' written on it.

"Yes _exactly_ like that on… urgh, give it to me!" Scratch yanked the box out of Grounder's hands. "Right, now let's get back to Dr Robotnik before someone catches us!"

* * *

"Incredible! For once you two nincompoops have managed to do something right!" said Dr Robotnik in his usual bombastic voice.

Scratch and Grounder had returned to their dark master's mountaintop lair with the stolen goods and he was certainly not disappointed.

"Why thank you your repulsiveness!" said Grounder sycophantically.

"Yeah, when have I _ever_ let you down?" added Scratch.

Robotnik's voice suddenly turned cold, "don't make me answer that…"

He rapidly regained his gloating attitude however and proceeded with his pontificating.

"This, gentlemen (Scratch and Grounder swelled with pride at this word; Dr Robotnik treating his peons with dignity was always a sign he was happy with them) is something I have been seeking for long time." He held the box aloft with reverence. "It would have taken me _years_ of research, exploration and excavation to discover this priceless artefact, but why go through all that rigmarole when you can let someone find it and take it from them?!" He laughed sadistically, "What I have in my hands is the key to making me _undisputed_ master of all Mobius!"

He opened the box.

Documents, old documents and a tablet.

Scratch jumped in the air and was caught by Grounder as they both cringed in fear and awaited the salvo of insults that was to be thrown at them, but to their surprise, none came.

"Behold, the Gaia manuscripts!" said Robotnik striking a dramatic attitude.

He was disappointed to see his two minions completely bemused by what he intended to be a dramatic revelation; such was the difficulty of being surrounded by morons.

"S-so, we didn't screw up?" was all Grounder said.

"You iron-clad ignoramuses! These manuscripts hold the information about one of the most powerful beings of legend; Dark Gaia!" Again, Robotnik struck the dramatic pose to no adequate response. He put a hand to his brow.

"Dark, Gaia," he said putting dramatic pause between each word, "is said to be an ancient entity of _great_ power, power which _I_ can exploit, enough power for me to finally realise my dream, _Rrrrobotnikland!_" He then pulled a cord from seemingly nowhere which drew open a curtain covering a picture of a garish amusement park featuring a giant Robotnik head with its mouth open as the entrance.

"But, er, how do these papers help with that?" said Scratch who was only more confused than ever.

"It is beyond _your_ comprehension" Robotnik said loftily, "I will study these documents and uncover the secrets of Dark Gaia, then we shall set about awakening him and then my mastery over the world will be at hand!"

"And what the Hedgehog?" said Grounder.

Robotnik laughed maniacally, his gleaming with malice.

"Sonic?! HA! What is a mere Hedgehog to the most powerful being on the planet?!"

Robotnik continued to laugh, reaching such extents of hysteria that Scratch and Grounder fled from the room in terror. It was nothing to the terror the world was about to endure in the coming days…

* * *

**Authors Note**: Welp, my second story and I hope you've enjoyed it so far. I had this idea in my head for a while but I didn't know how to start it until recently. Anyway, please leave a review and as I'm still writing I'm still open to suggestions by PM if you have any.


	2. Trouble In Paradise

About a month had passed since the break-in at Spagona University; it had elicited a paragraph in the local press but nothing more than that, even Sam managed to keep his job somehow. In fact Mobius had been resoundingly quiet for the most part and the world's fastest hero; the blue hedgehog Sonic, had been taking full advantage of this along with his inseparable companion and kid brother of sorts Miles 'Tails' Prower by taking a holiday at the beach.

Sonic was lounging on a deck-chair wearing a pair of sun glasses and swimming trunks. To the casual observer he appeared to be perfectly content, yet Sonic was internally vexed with the current situation, more to the point, he was bored. The holiday at first had begun well as Sonic and Tails had spent many a happy hour playing on the beach, meeting people and reading books however all of these activities after a while begin to lose their savour when you've been doing them for a fortnight as they had done.

Tails on the other hand was quite happy; he lay on a beach towel reading a thick volume. He was so engrossed in it he failed to notice that he had a white blob on his nose from the ice cream he was absent-mindedly licking. His two tails were casually rotating to provide a cooling breeze for the two. Suddenly Sonic sighed loudly.

"What's the matter Sonic?" said Tails not even looking up from his book.

"Well bro, it's just we've been here for two weeks now and _nothing's_ happened."

"But I thought you were having fun." Tails said now trying to lick the ice cream off his nose.

"Well I was, but…" Sonic sighed again, "I just wish something would happen!"

And so just as Sonic wished, something did happen; a young pink Hedgehog girl in a pink shirt and orange dress appeared at the other end of the beach.

"SOOONIC!" the figure cried as it rapidly closed the distance between itself and the boys lounging spot.

Sonic's eyes went wide and a mortified look stole over his face as he turned his head in the direction of the noise. Then quite suddenly he grabbed the confused Tails and ran in the opposite direction of the young girl.

"W-who is that Sonic?" said Tails holding on for dear life.

"Someone I knew before I met you" Sonic replied succinctly turning his head back to see the figure which to his dismay could clearly keep up a pace.

"Boy, I knew I wanted some action but not _this_ sort of action!" He said to no-one in particular.

Sonic continued to run and his eyes grew wider in horror, he was running out of beach! The sand ahead grew more and more narrow as the cliffs and ocean flanking it closed it. He skidded to a halt looking for any possible escape and found none. He could barely swim and the cliffs were too high. Sonic then came to the conclusion that if he could not escape he might as well as accept his fate with dignity as he turned round to meet the oncoming girl.

He gulped as the pink figure closed the distance, then another look of shock came over his face, how did he forget?

"Tails, you can fly!" he said as though this were a completely new discovery. "Get us outta here!"

Tails wound up his namesakes and grabbed onto Sonic's arms as the two rose up into the air just as the hedgehog girl reached where they were.

"Wait, Sonic! Don't go!" she cried jumping into the air in a vain attempt to catch them.

When they reached the top of the cliff the two sat down heavily, panting.

"So who was that anyway?" Tails said gasping for air.

"That Tails, was Amy Rose, we go back a long way" said Sonic.

"How long?"

Sonic cast over his memories to the moment when he first met Amy Rose. He explained to Tails how a few years ago he had travelled to a place called Never Lake where every year a small planetoid called Little Planet appeared in the sky. When he got there he found it had been chained to the ground and under the command of Dr Robotnik, not only that but he met a girl by the name of Amy Rose who was utterly infatuated with him despite his indifference. However before she knew it a robot swooped in and kidnapped her, so being the high-speed, one-of-a-kind, super-duper hero-hedgehog that Sonic was he set out to free Little Planet, stop Dr Robotnik, pull his moustache, and rescue the girl.

"And then what happened?" said Tails fascinated by this little shred of Sonic's life he never really knew of.

"Well kid, she was a bit, uh, 'clingy' for my liking so I said we could just be friends, but she got it stuck into her head that I'm her boyfriend!"

Tails laughed at this and began to sing, "Sonic and Amy sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S…"

"Shut up Tails!" said Sonic irritably.

"Well it is kinda funny how shy you are!" said Tails with a roguish look.

"I'm not shy; I just don't like it when she gives me one of those bone-crushing hugs. You'll understand when you're older…" the hedgehog sighed as saw Tails was still smirking. "Come on, let's buzz cuz!" He said grabbing Tails by the arm and running off into the distance with the fox in tow.

They sped through the countryside until they came to the last town they visited; Apotos, described as a 'charming little sea-side town' which was indeed the case. Sonic skidded to a halt in the town square and took a moment to admire the white stuccoed buildings and churches.

"Well Tails, I guess we'll be spending the night here. Hopefully Amy won't be thinking the same thing" said Sonic with a smile.

"I'd rather hope Dr Robotnik doesn't decide to come here Sonic, I'm quite liking this vacation" said Tails who was considering the wider picture.

* * *

Unlike Sonic however Tails's wish was not granted. On the far outskirts of town Dr Robotnik's newly constructed aerial-battleship was drifting overhead. On the bridge the crazed madman raised a glass to himself and turned to Scratch and Grounder.

"Well boys, we are now heading towards the first known Temple of Gaia! Soon, we will reawaken Dark Gaia and my dominion of Mobius will be at hand!" he cackled manically.

"Your genius knows no bounds your bloatedness!" fawned Scratch.

"_Indeed_" said Robotnik in a voice that superficially suggested humility yet brazened odious smugness.

"This is easily the best plan you've ever come up with!" supplied Grounder not to be outdone.

"This plan is so great they'll never be able to top it!" said Scratch with an edge of testiness to his voice.

"Oh yeah?! Well Dr Robotnik is so smart that he could easily come up with an even greater plan with his hands tied behind his back!" yelled Grounder putting his face right up close to Scratch's.

"YEAH?! Well Dr Robotnik is so gre…"

"SHUT UP!" boomed the Doctor at the two squabbling badniks. "Go and tidy up the kitchen! I have more scheming to do!"

The two reeled out of the bridge while Robotnik looked out of the window towards the setting sun.

"Tomorrow belongs to me…" he said in a soft voice which was far more terrifying than any angry shout he had given that day.

* * *

**Author's Note**: Well people I'm glad you've enjoyed what I've written so far, I decided to give Amy an introduction of sorts as she doesn't appear in AoStH (which I always thought was rather a missed opportunity for some gags but oh well). Obviously this is longer than an episode of AoStH but I think we can assume that this would be a multi-episode story arc or something like the Chaos Emerald arc.


	3. Back In Action

Sonic was stretching back his arms with a yawn; he had had a tiring day of relaxing even with the interruption by Amy and was looking forward to a kip. He had found a room in a local inn and had even been offered free lodging by the landlord for being the hero of Mobius, to which Sonic politely declined. As he was just about to go to sleep a series of thunderous knocks echoed throughout the room and Tails opened the door.

"Sonic! Come quick, it's an emergency!" Tails was in a complete panic and had grabbed onto Sonic and shaking him.

"W-Whoa little bro Amy isn't something we can't handle!" said Sonic his voice quavering from the shaking.

"It's not Amy its Robotnik! He's outside town right now!" said Tails his hands now in the air in desperation.

"Robotnik?!" said Sonic his face taken over by a grin, "well keed it looks like our vacation is over, let's juice!" Although he didn't want to admit it to Tails he was glad that Robotnik was back, at any rate it was better to know what he was doing rather than being left in ominous silence.

The two sped off into the countryside outside Apotos where overhead could be seen Robotnik's iron grey aerial-battleship. They slowed down to assess the situation; the battleship was floating over a ruined citadel, in the centre of which was a huge temple surrounded by a portico of once-white Corinthian columns. Dotted around the area were the remains of broken statues, colonnades and other traces of a long-lost civilisation. On the pediment of the temple was a relief sculpture in the centre of which was what appeared to be the world shattered into several pieces. Sonic however didn't have time to take photographs as he had already spotted Robotnik and his two Badniks Scratch and Grounder, all of whom were wearing pith helmets, skulking outside the entrance. The two heroes hid behind a fallen column to eavesdrop on their conversation.

"Well boys once we figure a way inside we'll soon be on our way to world conquest!" said Dr Robotnik rubbing his hands with glee. "Scratch, Grounder, you start drilling into the lower levels of the temple, I'll be up in the Egg-Carrier keeping a look out, inside you should find a pedestal with a Chaos Emerald on it! When you do find it tell me at once and make sure Sonic doesn't get it!"

"Of course your maliciousness!" said Scratch giving a Roman salute and pulling out a pickaxe.

The two robots entered the temple and began to drill into the marble slab floor with no care for historical preservation. Robotnik meanwhile jumped into his Egg-O-Matic, his one-man hovercraft and flew off into the open hangar door of the Egg-Carrier.

"What do we do Sonic?" said Tails.

"Well Robuttnik doesn't want me to get that Chaos Emerald, which means I _gotta_ get that Chaos Emerald before the doofus twins do!" said Sonic with a casual air. "You stay out here and keep safe, I've got some digging to do!"

And with that Sonic leapt up into the air and curved into his famous spindash before diving into the ground like a drill. As he burrowed through the earth Tails kept a lookout from his spot behind the fallen pillar and saw that the Egg-Carrier was moving slowly over the temple and a circular door on the bottom of the ship was slowly opening, he didn't like the look of it one bit.

Sonic finally reached the wall of the temple's lower floor and pushed hard at the stone that was in his way. With a thud it hit the ground and Sonic crawled out to see that he was inside a great hall, at one end of which was a dais surrounded by columns and in the centre of which was a pedestal on which resided…

"The Chaos Emerald!" said Sonic gazing at the green crystal which he now saw was the only source of light in the room as it glowed brightly in the darkness. Suddenly a new source of light appeared as a shaft of light came down from an aperture in the ceiling at the other end of the hall, Scratch and Grounder had worked fast, but he could work even faster.

Sonic ran towards the pedestal and stood next to it, placing his hands on his hips and said in a mocking tone "hey bozos, I'm _waiiiting_!" while tapping his foot.

"That's Sonic!" came the voice of Scratch with noticeable panic, "how did he get in before we did?!"

Scratch's head popped though the hole in the ceiling and goggled at the sight of Sonic next to the Emerald.

"Ya know guys, you really should be more careful around ancient ruins!" said Sonic casually, "these buildings aren't as sturdy as they used to be" and as if on cue the part of the ceiling Scratch and Grounder were on collapsed as they fell in a heap on the floor. Grounder scrambled onto this treads and changed his left arm into a gun.

"Hand us over that Chaos Emerald or else!" he yelled, although the threatening effect was betrayed by his dopey voice.

"Ohhh, I'm _so_ scared!" was Sonic's sardonic reply "I guess I'll _have_ to give it to you now." he said as he grabbed the Emerald from its perch.

Suddenly the Emerald was ablaze with light as Sonic felt what seemed to be sheer raw energy coursing through his whole body. What was happening to him? He thought, what was this feeling, this feeling of immense power emanating through him, it was like electricity being pumped though his veins. The Emerald was shaking but Sonic held on tight, Scratch and Grounder were completely dumbfounded by this unexpected development before their eyes.

Then, the slabs that made up the ceiling above the dais slid apart as if by magic and then Sonic felt something that both amazed and terrified him. He began to float into the air, up past the ceiling and into the temple's ground floor. Above he could see both the starry sky and alarmingly the menacing outline of the Egg-Carrier overhead, on the bottom of which was a circular opening revealing a very deadly looking gun-like device. Sonic was experiencing the rare feeling of fear as he continued to float.

Tails could now see Sonic floating above the temple, what was he going to do? He probably should fly in and try and rescue Sonic but he was so in awe of the sight he remained rooted to the spot. Then he noticed what looked like shooting stars, but they couldn't be stars because they were flying through the sky towards Sonic.

Sonic saw them too, and counted six of them, glowing objects, speeding towards him from all directions. As they closed in he saw that they were other Chaos Emeralds he suddenly let go of the green Emerald, he didn't know why but he just did, it floated into the air and joined it's cousins in a circle around him. The energy was now burning white hot, yet he felt no pain, just power, glorious power. Then something incredible happened, he saw his body turn bright gold and glow with the raw energy that was emanating from him. He was now Super Sonic.

He didn't know why, what, or how it happened but for some reason he knew just what to do. He looked up at Robotnik's Egg-Carrier and could see the morbidly obese dictator leaning over a rail on the edge of the opening; he had a look of fear in his eyes. Sonic then smirked and sped towards him, he didn't know how he was doing it but it seemed that the mere thought of flight was propelling him through the air. The fear he had was gone, replaced by a feeling of resolute might and confidence he never felt as strongly before.

As he tore through the sky into the opening in the Egg-Carrier he turned his back to Robotnik and shook his rear derisively.

"Hey Buttnik how'd you like my new look?!"

"I think it's brilliant!" said the doctor his face of terror giving way to one of triumph as he suddenly pulled out a remote controller with a large red button which he pressed dramatically while sneering.

Suddenly the floor below Sonic closed and a clear wall came down from the ceiling sealing Sonic inside the area with the laser-like object. Before Sonic could do anything the laser fired an electrical stream at him paralysing him, several tesla coil-like objects then came out of the ceiling and blasted more streams of electricity to the golden hedgehog. The pain was excruciating, Sonic screamed with agony as he felt what the experience of being flayed alive must have felt like.

"I'd like to thank you Sonic for gathering the Chaos Emeralds for me" said Robotnik with loathsome breeziness, "it would have taken someone pure in heart to have gathered them all to one location and it's so fortunate you obliged to help me with that. I will say I didn't quite expect this transformation but no matter" he concluded matter-of-factly as he began to pull some levers.

"Right now I'm drawing the energy of the Chaos Emeralds inside your body to charge up my Chaos Cannon, which I shall use to reawaken Dark Gaia, thus drawing _even_ more energy for me to use!" there was no need for Robotnik to explain all this, he was doing it simply for the sheer pleasure of gloating over his now prostrate enemy, why else would he make the containment unit's walls translucent? Sonic continued to scream as he hit the floor of his prison, the power was nearly drained from him and the golden hue was vanishing. The Chaos Emeralds appeared around him and were now blackened.

Outside Tails could see four metal scaffold-like objects slowly drawing out from around the Egg-Carriers round aperture, then he saw a smooth metallic cannon coming out of the stern and moving over the doors of the aperture. The pylons coursed with electricity and to his shock Tails saw that the Egg-Carrier was now rapidly ascending into the air. A feeling of utter, total helplessness filled Tails's stomach like a poison as it rose above the clouds.

Inside his chamber Sonic was continuing to writhe in pain, and then it came, the worst pain, it was so much that he lost consciousness but for a brief second it felt like he was on fire. Robotnik had pressed a button on his control panel simply marked 'BANG' and the sight which Tails saw took his breath away.

A bright pillar of purple light descended from the sky and came down to Mobius in the horizon. First there was a distant crumpling sound, and then a roar as the earth began to shake beneath his feet. High above in the sky Dr Robotnik observed as the Chaos Cannon blasted the planet beneath him, a look of glee in his face. Mobius trembled and slowly the ground began to crack apart and ethereal purple energy began to spew out of the fissures that appeared across the globe. Dark Gaia had been awoken and the planet was literally shattered.

"YES, it's working!" cackled Robotnik, then his eyes widened in shock. Sonic was transforming again; the hedgehog's body began to shake as his hair and spines grew dark and bushier, then long claws burst through his gloved hands. Sonic had regained consciousness and was feeling his muscles grow, what was happening to him? He felt his toes rip through the end of his sneakers and new feeling of strength inside of him. As the cannon finished its discharge he felt the pain go away from his body, replaced with a sudden newfound strength.

"What the devilry is this?" said Robotnik with an edge of fear in his confident voice. For before him stood a hulking figure, a mass of shaggy purple fur with long sharp fangs and gloves and shoes with fingers and toes poking out, and the figure was snarling at him. The doctor regained his confidence behind the safety of the transparent aluminium.

"Well Sonic, summer's nearly over so I hope you have a nice, _fall_!" as he said the last word he pushed a button and the floor of the containment unit opened. Sonic fell along with the Chaos Emeralds for what seemed like hours. Then he hit the earth with a dull thud...


	4. Hedgehogs, Werehogs & Flying Chihuahuas

The fall had only lasted a few minutes, maybe even less than that, and the body of the being that once was Sonic had only lain there for about two hours and yet in Sonic's mind the ordeal felt like it had lasted a decade.

He was dead, he must be, no-one, not even he could survive a fall like that. But then how could he be dead if he was thinking? Unless of course he was in purgatory, or worse; Milton Keynes. He then realised that he could still feel, but his mind felt far removed from his muscles and even the simple act of opening his eyelids felt like a herculean effort, eventually however he managed to lift his eyelids to take in his surroundings. Grass, he tried turning his head around, as he did he felt the residue of the agony he went through those few hours ago, although not as sharp. He could discern in the early dawn darkness the silhouette of a windmill and the sounds of lapping waves. Phew, he must have only just avoided the sea.

He tried to rise, as he did so he found his strength returning to him, he felt heavier somehow, he didn't quite know why though, probably the fall. As he looked around he could now see he was on a cliff edge between the sea and a white windmill, he had been fortunate, a little to the right and he would have been fish food. Then he looked down at his body.

"Whoa!" he cried, or rather, barked.

His voice was husky like a dog's and as he looked at his hands which thanks to his elongated fingers were now fingerless gloves he recoiled in horror. Was this what had happened up on the ship? He stroked his arms now shaggy with thick dark-blue hair and he felt the thick muscles that he now possessed beneath his fur. With a groan he stood upright; he was a little bit taller than before and as he looked at his feet he could not only see that he ruined his shoes but that he was also very top-heavy. He growled.

"What happened to me?"

"I don't know but I _do_ know _you_ fell on me!" came a shill voice from out of nowhere.

"Who's that?" said Sonic looking around for the source of the voice.

He didn't know how it was possible but Sonic saw yet another sight that evening that completely perplexed him. Flying just above the ground near him was a small, dog-like creature with maroon fur with white patches on its torso, limbs and mouth, a white puffy tail like a rabbit's and a necklace with a round green ball similar to a marble around its neck. On its back was a dainty set of translucent turquoise wings that fluttered noiselessly and on its head was a tuft of white hair. The creature was looking at Sonic with a curious expression.

"What are you?" said Sonic (what else could he say to such a thing?)

"I could ask the same thing, Mr Monster Guy!" retorted the little creature.

"Actually, I'm Sonic, Sonic the Hedgehog" said Sonic pointing his thumb at his chest.

"Who?"

"You haven't heard of me?" said Sonic, surprised (_everyone_ knew who he was).

"Why should I?" said the creature simply, "but hey! A stranger is a friend you haven't met yet, right?" he said cheerfully shaking Sonic by the hand (or rather his finger giver the size discrepancy) "nice to make your acquaintance Mr Mon-I mean Sonic!"

"So what's your name?" said Sonic who was getting tired of the whole shenanigan.

"Why, I'm, I'm…" the creature's eyes widened and he suddenly landed on the ground and began running around in circles, "I don't know! I can't remember!" he yelled in panic.

"OK, OK! Calm down!" said Sonic, "don't you remember anything?"

"Well, I remember falling from the sky, (he imitated the action) and then a really big thunk! Then after that, nothing!" said the little creature.

"Well that doesn't give us much, maybe someone in town might know who you are!" said Sonic hopefully.

"Really? You'd help me?"

"Yeah sure, as you said a stranger is a friend you never met before." Said Sonic, "besides, I need to find out what's happened to me…"

As he said it the sun began to rise and as the beams of light hit his body he felt a sensation of energy going through his body again, what now? He glowed brightly for a brief second and before he knew it he had returned to his old self.

"Wow, that's some neat trick!" said the little creature.

"Yeah" said Sonic looking at his body and then at his ruined gloves, "although I need to get some new threads…"

"Hey, what are these things?" said the creature who was examining the blackened Chaos Emeralds.

"Those are the Chaos Emeralds, they…" Sonic tried to think of an explanation for the gems but finding none ended lamely "…do stuff".

"Oh" said Chip a bit disappointed, "well I'm hungry, let's get something to eat!"

"OK then, I'm sure there's a chili dog stand around here somewhere" said Sonic smacking his lips as he picked up the Emeralds.

"Right, I hope you can fly as fast as Tails cause I'm up, over, and gone!" with the last three words Sonic leapt up into the air and hit the ground running at his usual blazing speed. To his pleasant surprise he could see the creature could keep a fair pace behind him.

* * *

As the pair ran towards Apotos Sonic hastened to explain who he was and what had just happened to him that last evening. The creature seemed highly interested and by the time they reached the town Sonic had already taken a liking to the little guy.

"So, what's with all the hair you had earlier, and the big teeth?" asked the creature.

"I have no idea but I think it has to do with Dark Gaia, and the only person I know who knows anything about Dark Gaia is Robotnik" said Sonic with a frown.

"Maybe it's temporary" said the creature shrugging.

"Yeah I hope, but I don't want to take any chances…" said Sonic looking at his fingerless gloves.

After buying a new pair of gloves and shoes the two idled up to an ice cream stand where a cheerful moustached man was adding the finishing touches to a magnificent ice cream. It was three scoops in a waffle cone and laden with sprinkles and chocolate chips and cream and chocolate sauce and even had little biscuits and chocolate flakes sticking out of it. The creature's eyes were the size of dinner plates and a trickle of drool came out of his mouth.

"Can I have this?" he said to the man in a distance voice.

"Sure my little doggy friend!" said the ice cream seller jovially.

Without any hesitation the creature picked up the mountainous delicacy and ate the whole thing in one bite.

"More! _MORE!_" he said imperiously and the ice cream seller alarmed by his unexpected voraciousness quickly began to dispense ice creams to him until his soft-serve machine ran dry.

Sonic was simply agog, and he thought _he_ was a big eater; this guy was no bigger than his head!

"That will be one-hundred and twelve Mobiums four cents!" said the ice cream seller cooly.

"Oh I don't have any money" said the creature as he patted his belly.

Sonic threw him a _very_ dirty look as he passed his _Sonic Express_ card to the man who ran it through his card reader and handed a receipt to Sonic.

"Right, next time I pay for the food before we eat it!" said Sonic sternly as they walked away from the stand.

"I'm sorry Sonic, but I just love chocolate chip" said the creature who was still in a state of ecstasy. "Mmmhmm I could just live off nothing but chocolate chips, chips, that's a funny word, chips, ships, blips, dips, snips…"

"OK, OK! Chip! That's enough" said Sonic who was beginning to reconsider his decision to let this guy tag along with him.

"Chip?" said the creature curiously.

"Yeah that's what I said" Sonic replied

"But you called me Chip"

"Did I? I just said it but…" Sonic considered, the guy needed a name and Chip was no worse than say Chocolate or Whip or Captain Chihuahua. "Yeah, you know what, let's call you Chip, wouldn't be the first time I've given someone a name"

As he said it his mind suddenly turned to his twin-tailed companion and a look of concern came over his face, where was he?

"We need to find Tails Chip" said Sonic.

"Where will he be though? I mean there's so much stuff to do and so little time! We gotta figure out my name, find out what's happened to you and now find Tails!" said Chip despondently.

"What d'ya mean 'so little time?' I'm running on Sonic speed here! Let's ask around" said Sonic with pep.

They asked around, replies varied from those who really wanted to help but really couldn't do anything to people who couldn't get over the fact that they had met Sonic the Hedgehog but again couldn't do much for them to people who told them in many ways to shove off.

"How do you expect me to care about some fox when the whole planet's split apart?" said an irascible old sailor who was busy mooring his boat to the dock.

"Well that's politeness for you" said Chip haughtily as they walked away.

"He has a point though" said Sonic with a sigh, he could not help but feel entirely responsible for everything that had happened, even Chip losing his memory (poor guy must have broken his fall, somehow).

They continued to walk through the cobbled streets of Apotos, it was amazing that despite the planet splitting apart so many people were going about their day just like it were any other. Yet there was still a veil of unease about the place and many windows were closed, certainly it was a very different atmosphere to the one Sonic and Tails experienced yesterday. When they had finally exhausted all sources of information Sonic came to the decision that they should return to the Apotos temple to look for Tails.

* * *

When they arrived at the temple however they found all traces of Robotnik had vanished, and Tails was nowhere in sight. Sonic was now worried, had Robotnik captured Tails? He'd never forgive himself if he'd let that happen to his best friend in the world. He sighed heavily as he finished searching the lower floor of the temple.

"It's no use Chip, he's not here" said Sonic a look of bitter disappointment on his face as he began to walk towards the stairs at the other end of the room.

Chip however was not listening to him; he was looking at the elegant stone carvings on the wall behind the dais where the Chaos Emerald used to be, although the pedestal it was on had receded into the floor.

"Hey! Sonic!" Chip cried.

"What is it?" said Sonic with a gleam of hope in his eyes "Tails?"

"No, look!"

Sonic could see that the turquoise stone around Chip's neck was glowing.

"Wow" said Chip as he stared at the stone.

"What does it mean though?" said Sonic in bewilderment.

The answer seemed to come in the form of the pedestal rising up out of the dais.

"Well, what does _that_ mean?" said Chip his turn to be confused.

Sonic didn't quite know why he did it, but maybe it was because he had the naïve thought that if one returned something you took back to its original place everything would go back to normal. Anything to get rid of the Emerald that had caused this whole mess would ease his inner troubles. His reasoning however was far from foolish.

He placed the once green Chaos Emerald back on its pedestal. As soon as it made contact with the stone it began to glow, and before their eyes they saw it regain its lost glory. Suddenly there was a low trembling sound that reverberated around the chamber.

Neither of them knew it, but the section of Mobius that the Apotos temple was connected with was slowly drifting back towards the planet's core to reconnect. They had unwittingly taken the first step to restoring the planet.

* * *

**Authors Note:** **Welp I've been rattling through this a machine-gun pace! I'm afraid I might have to slow down a little bit but don't worry I'll be sure to keep this updated. I'm aware this chapter is less action packed than the previous one but don't worry the next should be quite exciting (I hope).**


	5. Night Of The Werehog

On the other side of the world at his mountaintop fortress Dr Robotnik had just woken up from a good night's sleep and was walking into the kitchen wearing his purple dressing gown and fez while rubbing his hands with glee.

"What an excellently evil evening it has been! Dark Gaia has awoken, the whole planet is trembling before my wrath and best of all," his voice rose to a crescendo, "Sonic is _no more_!"

He threw his head back and laughed.

"Scratch, Grounder! Make me my breakfast!" he boomed while holding his finger aloft in an imperious manner.

The two Badniks rushed to the kitchen and hastily set about making a plate of bacon and eggs. While they worked a small robotic monkey with a light bulb on its head ran into the kitchen in a state of hysteria.

"Dr Robotnik! Dr Robotnik! Have you houid? Some idiot just blew the whole planet to pieces last night!" said the robot (whose name was Coconuts and who somehow managed to get even less respect than Scratch or Grounder) in a New Jersey accent.*

Robotnik glared at the monkey, his moustache bristling with rage as his face went red.

"OF COURSE I KNOW YOU SIMEAN SIMPLETON! I KNOW EVERYTHING!" he bellowed with such force that Coconuts had to grab onto a table leg for dear life. "It was I (he pointed his thumb at his chest) who split the planet apart last night as according to my brilliant plan, don't you attend any of our meetings?!"

"No Dr Robotnik, I've been on sanitation duty in the sewers because you said you never wanted to see me again…" said Coconuts his lip curling into an abashed look.

"Hmm, yes I can see that you might have taken my word too literally" said Robotnik, his nose wrinkling. "Well Coconuts because I'm such a good egg I will tell you of the next stage of my devious plan!"

"Ohhh, thank you Dr Robotnik! Thank you! Thank you!" grovelled Coconuts taking a deep bow.

Robotnik assumed a dramatic pose. "Boys, we are now half-way to completing my devious scheme! Right now my Dark Gaia Energy Extractor Tower is sucking in all the mystic energies that I have unleashed by reawakening Dark Gaia! The fragmentation of the planet is little more than a minor by-product" he ended with a casual wave of his hand.

"All that remains is start immediate construction of Robotnikland! Tha…"

"But Dr Robotnik, I thought you already created a Robotnikland out of Mobiusland!"

Coconuts had spoken up, taking everybody including Coconuts himself by surprise; no-one interrupted the doctor when he was pontificating. However so good was Robotnik's mood he didn't throw the monkey out of the window but instead answered in an almost polite tone.

"Ah well you see Coconuts that was but a mere trap for Sonic; what I am creating is the _culmination_ of all my hopes and dreams…"

For a brief moment he gazed into the middle distance wistfully, then he resumed his speech.

"Of course, there is another issue I need to deal with," he looked over to his two henchbots with a sly smile. "As you are well aware boys Sonic is now no more and as a result there is no longer a _need_ for the S.S.S.S.S. Squad (Super Special Sonic Search and Smash Squad), therefore I'm afraid we will have to have a 'staff reshuffle'" he air-quoted the last two words. "Scratch, Grounder, I am _demoting_ you both to sanitation duty! Coconuts! You are now promoted to waste management and disposal executive supervisor officer, and _I_ am promoting myself to Supreme-Ultra-President-Executive-Ruler of Robotnikland!"

With a wave of his hand the rotund tyrant pulled out a bicorn hat with a large white plume sticking out and placed it on top of his fez. Then leaving his stunned badniks still trying to work out what had happened he swaggered out of the kitchen with his chest puffed out. He hadn't even bothered to eat his plate of bacon and eggs which Scratch was still holding in his hand. Finally Grounder spoke up.

"Aww man, demoted again!"

"Yeah, and we didn't even mess anything up!" said Scratch crestfallen.

Coconuts on the other hand was ecstatic.

"Oh boy! Promotion! Promotion! I gots a promotion!" he cheered while doing a little jig.

"Oh shut your trap, Coconuts!" said Scratch scathingly, "you didn't get promoted at all; Robotnik just added a bunch of words to your job title!"

"Yeah, but dey sure are _fancy_ words!" replied Coconuts still dancing.

However before Scratch could show Coconuts some _really_ fancy words the whole room began to shake as Robotnik's thunderous voice came in through the open kitchen door.

"THE HEDGEHOG IS _ALIVE_?!"

Robotnik was standing in front of one of the large computer screens that dotted his fortress, his hands resting on the terminal and a look of murder in his eyes, although murder is maybe not a strong enough a word for it. On the screen a shady looking individual in a trench coat and fedora covering his eyes was addressing the obese dictator.

"Yes Dr Robotnik, I saw the Hedgehog this morning in the city of Apotos, and what's more there were huge tremors just a moment ago; some people are saying this continent has reconnected to the planet."

"What, how's that even possible?!" roared Dr Robotnik, slamming his fist on the terminal and causing several buttons to fly out, "unless…" his eyes suddenly widened in fear, "unless Sonic has used one of the Chaos Emeralds to restore the temple's power! Scratch! Grounder! Get in here!"

The two badniks ran into the room.

"Yes your putridness?" said Scratch

"I am remobilising the S.S.S.S.S. Squad; you now have your old jobs back!"

"Wow, that was fast!" said Grounder cheerily.

Robotnik then called out again, "Coconuts!"

"Yes Dr Robotnik?" said the little robot as he ran into the room still wearing a smile on his face.

"You failed to make sure Sonic was dead or to collect the Chaos Emeralds, you are therefore _demoted_ to Useless Third Class!"

"Bu… I…" Coconut's voice was trembling, but he hadn't worked for Dr Robotnik all his life without learning that what the Doctor said was always right. "Okay…" he ended pathetically.

"Now go and man the ticket booth at Robotnikland" said Robotnik pointing at the door.

"But you haven't even built Robotnikland yet!" protested Coconuts.

"I know the park isn't finished… but the booth is."

Dejectedly, Coconuts left the room; Robotnik meanwhile began to form his next plan of action.

* * *

As Sonic left the Apotos temple Chip reminded him that it was probably lunchtime and so they should get back to town. Sonic's brief uplift in mood at having done something with the Chaos Emerald (although he wasn't quite sure what had happened yet) had given way again to his anxiety about Tails. After Chip ate half the contents of a restaurant in town Sonic began to feel the effects of having stayed up for most of the previous night and crashed back at his room at the inn.

He was walking through a grey, shapeless landscape, periodically calling out for Tails, in the distance he could hear the distant cries of the fox calling out for him. Sonic then came to a giant Robotnik head with a door where the mouth was, he opened it, and inside he could see his friend sitting on a chair.

"Sonic!" the fox cried.

"Tails!"

Suddenly Tails's body changed into an ice cream cone and a giant Chip flew into the room, "mmm, that looks delicious!" he said and dislocating his jaw in huge bite ate the fox's head whole. Sonic roared at Chip and began to chase him on all four limbs like a dog, catching him by his puffy tail with his teeth.

"Hey! Stop that! I can't help it if your friends are so tasty!" cried the little creature as Sonic worried him like a chew toy. "Sonic, no! wake up Sonic! _Wake up_!"

All of a sudden Sonic opened his eyes to see that he actually was holding Chip's tail in his teeth as the little creature flapped his wings furiously. Sonic opened his mouth hastily and Chip shot across the bedroom like a cannonball hitting the wall opposite.

"Owieee!" said Chip rubbing his head, "you need to be more careful when you're asleep Sonic!"

Sonic looked into the mirror and realised that he had transformed into the Werehog. He hadn't had a good look at his new form and so for the first time noticed how different he was; bigger, hairier and scarier, at least he resembled his normal self in shape. He looked down at his hands and saw once again that his fingers had elongated and torn through his gloves.

"Aww man, and these were a new pair!" he lamented in a gruff voice.

"Hey Sonic look outside!" said Chip excitedly looking out of the window.

Sonic went over; his footfalls were definitely heavier he thought as the wooden floorboards creaked underfoot. Looking onto the cobblestone street below him Sonic could see several burly purple creatures that resembled lizards prowling around. They had hunched backs covered with spikes and thick long gangly arms like a gorilla; they all seemed to emit a magenta smoke that hung ominous in the air.

"What are they?" said Chip who looked worried.

"I don't know, but they certainly don't look friendly" said Sonic, as if to confirm his suspicion a man opened his front door to let out the cat and found himself being ignominiously picked up by the ankles by the monster and was being shaken down.

Without a moment's hesitation Sonic leapt from the window down the street, pointed a clawed finger at the monster and growled, "Pick on someone your own size!"

The beast dropped the man who scrambled inside his home and bolted the door and turned on Sonic. The other monsters had also heard Sonic's entrance and were advancing on him, clawed hands raised in the air.

Sonic began to wind up his arm like a rotor and launched an uppercut at one of the charging monsters with such force that it shot up into the air and disappeared with a twinkle leaving only a pair of loafers on the ground behind. Impressed with his newfound strength Sonic then grabbed another beast and kneaded it into a ball and began to dribble the hapless creature. His companions lined up against Sonic and one of the burlier ones grabbed a skinny monster and also kneaded him into a ball. The monster then threw the ball at Sonic who used his captive to deflect the shot into the face of one of the monsters who fell over with stars in his eyes.

Sonic then threw the creature in his hands at one of the monsters in the line-up hitting it in the solar plexus and knocking it over.

"You're out!" he cried.

The monster-ball bounced back wide and Sonic grabbed him, to his surprise he noticed that he could stretch his arms out like they were mad of rubber, but he had no time to investigate further. He then repeated the process, throwing and catching the rebounding monster-ball.

"You're out! You're out! And you're out!" said Sonic as he felled each hulking beast in turn.

When the final monster fell the Werehog caught the monster-ball and began to dribble it.

"And now for a slam dunk!" he said throwing the battered being into a bin with a loud crash.

Sonic surveyed the scene while dusting off his hands with a grin, the prostate creatures suddenly dissolved into purple smoke which blew off even though there was little wind in the air.

"Well, that was fun!" he said to Chip who had been flying above the fight while making little punches and kicks in the air. "Now let's go-oooooh…"

Sonic had turned round to meet a very thick pair of purple legs that led up to a muscular torso upon which sat a horned head with one massive glowing orange eye. Its wide shoulders were covered with turquoise spikes from which purple smoke emanated and its massive arms (one of which was a holding a knobbly club) barely touched the ground, the whole being was at least five metres tall.

The Werehog gulped and gave the monster a wide imbecilic smile. "Er, having a good evening?"

The Titan grabbed Sonic in one hand and swung its massive arm back and forth banging him on the ground and giving out little yelps with each hit. It then let Sonic go who stood up and wobbled around with a consternation of stars over his head and his eyes rolling. Then the Titan banged Sonic into the cobblestone street like a nail using its club, Chip tried to grab the club but in doing so found himself being catapulted half-way across town. In the end only Sonic's dazed head could be seen poking out of the road, his face contorted into a goofy visage which was completed by his tongue lolling out.

Sonic then shook his head and recovered his senses. He jumped out of his hole and gave a long wolf-like howl while arching his back and thumping his chest like a gorilla.

"Ya think I'd go down that quickly?" he said more to the readers than to the monster.

The Titan swept his club at Sonic who neatly jumped over it and then again as it made another swing. The Werehog threw a punch into the monster's eye causing it to drop the club in pain as it reeled back a few paces and nursed its single eye with its hands. He tried to make another punch but this time found his fist colliding with the Titan's arms which were now held up in front of its body in a defensive stance. As Sonic began wringing his hand in pain he found himself being grabbed once again. However this time he was able to get one arm free and using his newfound stretching ability reached out to the monster's armpit and began to tickle.

"Coochie-coochie-coo!" he said.

The Titan made a giggling sound (or at least the closest it could make to a giggle) and dropped Sonic. As he fell to the ground Sonic used his arms to launch himself feet-first into the monster's solar plexus to deliver a fearsome donkey-kick. The Titan bent over in pain and in doing so found its face at the receiving end of a series of rolling punches causing it to rebound like a speed bag. When it finally stood up it swayed in a stupor and now found itself seeing stars. At this point Chip returned from his flight across town and fluttering up towards the monster's face and with a cry of "Timber!" and flick of his tiny finger sent it crashing to the ground stiff as a board.

"Woo! Thanks Chip" barked Sonic to the little creature as it did a triumphant fist pump.

The Titan, like the other creatures dissolved into purple smoke and the pair decided to investigate the rest of the town. Unbeknownst to both of them a small crowd had gathered a safe distance away from the fight and as Sonic and Chip turned a corner the two met.

Never before had Sonic seen such a large body of people vanish so quickly. Before he could even blink the entire street had let out a cry as everyone rushed indoors though every available entrance and had somehow managed to board up every window, door, and cat-flap with planks and nails. Only a black cat remained which hissed at the Werehog, Sonic instinctively fell onto all-fours and barked fiercely at the cat which scampered into an ally. Sonic gave chase not necessarily knowing why but just that it was exactly what must be done to a cat. The cat clawed its way up a drainpipe an perched itself on a small window-ledge comfortable in the knowledge that the other dog which chased him were always confounded by that manoeuvre and could be teased with impunity. However to his dismay the cat saw Sonic shimmying up the drain with ease his long white fangs bearded. Having realised it had _greatly_ underestimated its opponent the cat began to prepare itself for kitty heaven, however before any mortal blow the window opened and a wrinkled hand grabbed the cat.

"Get in here Mario, _bad dog!_" said a frail woman's voice as it hit the Werehog over the head with a rolled-up newspaper (Mario's owner was a little short sighted and so was not disconcerted with the terrifying visage of Sonic's face).

With a yelp Sonic let go of the drain and fell squarely on his rear with a thump. Chip flew over to him.

"What happened there Sonic?" questioned Chip

"I don't know what came over me, it's like I went into autopilot or something" replied Sonic.

"Maybe you need to control your more… animal side a bit better"

"Yeah, definitely"

Sonic stood up rubbing his backside.

"I think we need to explain to people what's happened to me when I've turned back to normal."

He spoke confidently but inside was unsure whether people would believe him or not. He then remembered his hunt for Tails, what if he also fled at the sight of him? What if he stayed like this forever? He quickly put the last uneasy thought as far back in his mind as possible.

However as he left the alleyway with Chip one of his questions was answered. Standing in the street, carrying a small yellow tablet-like device with a screen and two handles in his was Tails.

"Tails!" Sonic called to the fox.

"Sonic?" came the baffled reply.

Before he could say anything else Sonic had run up to Tails and embraced him and without realising it began to lick his little brother's face.

"H-hey that's enough!" spluttered Tails trying to keep his eyes shut.

Sonic relented his assault, "Sorry little bro, it's just I'm really glad to see that you're safe."

"Yeah I can tell," said Tails, wiping the slobber off his face, "yeuck!"

There was a brief pause as Tails took in Sonic's appearance; he knew it was Sonic beneath all that fur and fangs. He hadn't lived with the Hedgehog for most of his life without picking up a sixth sense for his older brother of sorts. However this was easily the strangest form he had taken.

"What happened to you Sonic?"

"Well kid I could ask you the same thing, but me first."

Just then Chip flew in on the reunion.

"Hey there!" he said with a wave taking in the fox's twin-tails, "you must be that Tails guy we've been looking for, where have you been? We looked _everywhere_ for you."

"Who's this guy?" said Tails thumbing towards Chip in what was perhaps an unnecessarily dismissive tone to Sonic.

"This is Chip," said Sonic "he's a, er…"

"Want some chocolate?" interrupted Chip offering a bar which he had pulled out from nowhere.

Tails broke off a piece tentatively and took a nibble, he was wary whenever Sonic made friends without him knowing about it. However his distrust melted with the chocolate and he put the rest in his mouth.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome."

"So, how did you two meet, and what happened last night, and just _what_ is up with all the hair?" said Tails.

"Well it's a long story little bro, but it's started when I got into the temple last night…"

Then for the second night in a row Sonic explained what had happened when he had taken the Chaos Emerald from the pedestal in the temple and the subsequent transformations he went through. He added on how he met with Chip and the events of yesterday and their trip to the temple, at this point Tails interrupted.

"But Sonic, that means it must have been you who put this piece of Mobius back together!"

"Yeah, I guess, I still don't know why it did though" said Sonic.

"Well I think I know a guy who would have answers…"

* * *

**Author's Note: Thanks for all the feedback, I've been having fun writing this. I just hope I can fulfil your expectations. (Yes I am aware that this is going to be way longer than an AoStH episode but I don't think that really matters and I'm also aware that this is a very big chapter.)**

***If anyone can help me describe a New Jersey accent without referencing a real place that would be appreciated, please PM.**

**P.S. I just want to apologise to the people of Milton Keynes for the slight in the last chapter, I've been to Milton Keynes myself and it's really not that bad, it's just that Detroit or Slough are overused.**


	6. Flight And Fight

"Who could give us answers?" said Sonic in his growly voice.

"Professor Pickle" said Tails.

Sonic made a nonplussed expression, "Who's Professor Pickle?" he said.

Tails pulled a week-old news magazine from out of nowhere and held it up to the Werehog's muzzle and pointed at an article.

"Look at this article from this month's _Mobius Observer_," said Tails

"Princess Mary to have baby? Aww that's so sweet" said Sonic.

"No, the other article!" said Tails irritably.

"Man clones his own foot and eats it?"

"Urgh, I'll look for it!"

Tails rifled through the pages until he found what he was looking for and held it up to Sonic.

"Ada Wat may have been a Temple Of Gaia?" said Sonic tentatively.

"Yep, that's the one" said Tails.

Sonic began to read the article aloud; it was short piece of filler located in the 'foreign news' section.

_A team of archaeology students from Spagona University yesterday claimed to have found evidence that the Ada Wat temple may have in fact been built upon a much older temple site dedicated to Light Gaia. The students found hidden floors and previously undiscovered chambers both in and around the temple complex. They also claim to have identified what were previously unidentified carvings and reliefs to be symbols relating to the Dark and Light Gaia legends. "We are really excited by these findings" said Professor Pickle, head of archaeology at Spagona University. "We believe that this is the seventh and last missing Temple Of Gaia which potentially dates it as several thousand years old and is a tremendously important discovery."_

Next to the article were three pictures; the large one a landscape shot of a ruined temple with vines and creepers entangling its many towers. Below this were two smaller photographs; one a group of students standing in a courtyard within the temple and the other a picture of some carvings. Tails pointed to the latter picture fervently.

"Look at that carving!" he said excitedly.

Sonic examined it; the carving seemed to be of a little dog-like creature with wings flying over a cracked planet.

"Hey, that looks like the one we saw at that other place!" said Sonic.

"Yeah I know, when I read the paper I knew I had seen it before" Said Tails.

"You always were good at observation kid!" said Sonic placing a heavy hand on Tails's head and tousling his hair.

Tails coughed and looked down at his feet and then at Sonic with raised eyebrows. The Werehog also looked down to see that the fox was knee deep in the ground.

"Oh, sorry" apologised Sonic tugging Tails out of the ground with a pop.

"It's alright Sonic," said Tails "we better get back to the hotel and go to bed, its way past my bedtime!"

"Good thinking kid!" then Sonic remembered the reaction of the other townspeople and wondered if it was wise to wake the innkeeper in the dead of night as a giant hairy monster. Tails it seemed had considered this too.

"Sonic, I think I should explain what happened to you to the manager before you go in" he said.

"What if he doesn't believe you?" said Chip.

"Well I can always shimmy up the drainpipe" said Sonic with a chuckle.

Sonic however did not have to enter by the drainpipe as the innkeeper who was a credulous being accepted Tails's explanation and showed the Werehog, fox and flying creature to their room where they managed to catch up on lost sleep.

* * *

The next morning Sonic, Tails and Chip were seated outside the inn having breakfast, Sonic and Tails were enjoying a balanced meal of bread with honey along with some fruits and orange juice while Chip had already on his thirds. Sonic and Tails along with the other patrons had long stopped conversation to marvel in silence at the sight of this small creature devouring food and wondering where it all went. When Chip finished his fifth plate of pastries with a belch Sonic decided to speak up.

"So how are we going to get to Professor Pickle? Spagona's on another segment of the planet so we can't run there and all the airports are closed for government use or important freight only and I can't exactly afford a private jet right now…"

"Don't worry Sonic, I've got a way to fly us there!" said Tails excitedly.

"Sorry Tails but there's no way you could carry me for hundreds of miles" said Sonic with a sigh.

"No, no it's not that!" said Tails, "come on Sonic I've got something to show you!"

They paid their bill and the fox led Sonic and Chip to a small shed at an airstrip outside of town.

"So what is it you've got to show me?" said Sonic with curiosity.

"Well…" said Tail's sheepishly, "I was going to give this to you for your birthday but when the planet split apart I had it shipped in immediately and did a bit of maintenance on it." He put his hands behind his back and looked down while pointing the tip of his left foot in the ground and rotating his heel in an apologetic manner. "That was why I wasn't around town yesterday when you were looking for me, sorry."

"Yeah, but what is it?" said Sonic now tapping his foot.

"Well, it's not a jet…" said Tails pulling out the little yellow device he was carrying last night and pressing a button on it, "but it can still fly."

The door to the shed opened slowly and Sonic gaped at the sight inside. It was the most magnificent biplane he had ever seen. It was painted a brilliant red colour and had a single engine and two seats, on the side written in large white letters was the word 'Tornado'.

"Happy early birthday Sonic" said Tails.

Sonic picked up the fox and gave him a hug.

"Tails, it's the best present anyone has ever given me!" he said.

"You're welcome Sonic."

Sonic then jumped into the back seat of the Tornado, then his face fell.

"But… I don't know how to fly" he said.

"I can fly" said Tails, who flew into the front seat using his tails.

"Yeah, but not a biplane!" said Sonic.

"Yeah and a biplane!" said Tails with spirit as he tapped a few buttons on his little computer.

Suddenly the engine roared into life and the propeller whirled around nearly blowing over Chip who had been hovering the whole time. He recovered and flew into the front seat with Sonic. Tails then put on a scarf and pilot's helmet as he drew the plane out of the little shed.

"But when did you learn how to fly?" said Sonic who was now very nervous about the whole venture.

"I read all about it in _Maintaining and Flying Biplanes for Bi-Tailed Foxes_" shouted Tails over the sound of the engine, producing said book from the pocket next to his seat.

"Wow, I always said reading books could take you to faraway places but _this_ is ridiculous!" said Sonic, glancing to one side as if to face an invisible audience.

Tails then put on his goggles and swung the aircraft to face the runway and steadily increased speed. Soon the tailwheel lifted off the ground and then as they felt the weight of the g-forces on their chests the plane rose into the air, the wind now blasting into their faces. Sonic closed his eyes partly to protect them from the wind and partly out of fear.

Gradually they rose off the tarmac and into the wild blue yonder, Sonic dared to open an eye and look down to see the now toy-like buildings that made up Apotos below him. Chip was waving at them.

"Bye!" He shouted, "It was great seeing you people!"

Sonic now opened both eyes and took in the landscape around him.

"Wow Tails! You really are flying!" said Sonic.

"I know!" shouted Tails, "Pretty impressive for my first flight!"

"_WHAT_?!"

The engine suddenly cut out and the plane took a nosedive, Sonic's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates as he saw the sea below them getting closer and closer.

"Oops, I forgot do something" said Tails pulling out _Maintaining and Flying Biplanes for Bi-Tailed Foxes_ and flicking though the pages. "Ah, I forgot to pull this."

He pulled a small knob and the engine spluttered back into life and they lurched back upwards.

"There, that wasn't so bad?" said the fox.

Sonic however said nothing as his face was frozen in a wide-eyed look of terror while Chip had clamped onto the back of his head with his eyes welded shut.

The rest of the flight went without incident, Chip was awestruck by the clouds and how the sun reflected off them as they ascended to greater heights.

* * *

Dr Robotnik was in his study, intently examining a map of the planet. He had done this many times before; often making additions and alterations to the original cartographers work were he intended to 'improve' the area by means of one of his schemes. This time however he had merely drawn lines where the planet had split apart and marked big Xs on various locations. He then drew out a calliper, made a few quick mental calculations and measured a radius around the point of the map marked Apotos.

"Aha!" he said, pointing at an X which had fallen within the radius.

"What is it your repulsiveness?" asked Grounder who had just rolled in through the door along with Scratch.

"I have just calculated where Sonic should be heading next!" said Robotnik with a smile, "the nearest temple to Apotos is _here_, in the Spagona region!"

He jabbed his finger at the spot marked Spagona with such force that he gave a yell and began shaking his hand furiously as his index finger throbbed in pain.

"Ahem," he said regaining his composure, "this means that assuming Sonic has somehow acquired a means of aerial transport he will be flying through this area."

Robotnik drew a circle around an area which was now split apart.

"And because I possess the greatest foresight on Mobius I have already assembled a fleet of aircraft ready to be scrambled the second that blasted pincushion takes to the skies!"

"If you knew that the Hedgehog would do that why didn't you foresee him surviving that fall?" said Grounder in a rare display of logical analysis.

"A, minor anomaly," said Dr Robotnik awkwardly (he had always possessed a fleet of aircraft but never let go of a chance to display his self-proclaimed genius). "Besides," he said in an attempt to save face, "what's the fun in life if there are no challenges?!"

Scratch and Grounder decided not to answer this but instead Scratch said, "So do you want us to help intercept him?"

"No," said Robotnik firmly, "I am not going to risk you two bionic bunglers messing up again! Besides, I am greatest pilot on Mobius, I will deal with this myself!" he said thumbing his chest.

Suddenly an alarm sounded and Robotnik walked away from his desk and pulled down a computer monitor displaying a radar screen with a flashing white dot moving slowly.

"AHA!" he cried greedily with a clap of his hands, "Sonic has been spotted!"

He ran behind a screen and rapidly emerged in a flurry of clothing from the other side dressed in a brown flying jacket, jodhpurs, and a flying helmet.

"I'm off to blast that blue blur from the skies!" he declared, "and this time he won't be able to run away!"

He laughed his usual gloating laugh and began to leave the room, but before leaving the door he turned round and addressed Scratch and Grounder.

"Actually there is something I want you to do which even you two cannot mess up. I want you to go to Mazuri and pick up a certain prisoner of mine and bring him back here."

"Who?" said Scratch.

"A one Professor Pickle" said Robotnik…

* * *

Tails had been flying for a while now; they had finally passed the point were the Hellenic continent were Atopos ended and the crack in the planet began. They climbed higher and could see the jagged grey wall that was the continent of Europa stretching before them either way as far as the eye could see. Sonic however was gazing below at the monolithic chasm at the bottom of which he could see the faint red glow of Mobius's core.

"Wow, if it wasn't totally endangering the planet I'd say this was way-past-cool!" he said in an awestruck voice.

Then, Sonic heard it. It was a faint whine, like the sound of a washing machine coming from somewhere in the distance. As this happened the clouds began to get thicker and Tails said there might be some turbulence. Chip then shook Sonic by the shoulder.

"Look!" he yelled into the hedgehog's ear, "up there!"

Sonic and Tails looked and they felt a lead weight in their stomachs as they saw hundreds of small black dots growing in size as they headed in their direction. At the head of the swarm Dr Robotnik was flying in his Egg-O-Matic, teeth bared in a leer.

"I have you now Sonic…" he said softly.

"We're done for!" said Chip in a panicked voice as he grabbed a parachute and began to strap it on.

"Don't worry," said Tails calmly, "I have one trick up my sleeve, hold on!"

Tails pushed a green button on his computer and there was a sudden whirring sound of gears and pistons as the Tornado began to transform before their very eyes. The wings folded apart to form an 'X' position, the propeller receded and the bottom of the fuselage opened up to reveal a large jet engine. Finally, two sleek 35mm laser cannons emerged below either side of the engine.

"This is the Tornado X Sonic" said Tails with a smile.

He then yanked back his little computer which was now attached to the control stick and spun up into the air with tremendous agility unseen on the Tornado's previous form to gain height on the incoming enemies.

"How?" was all Sonic could say.

"I modified the Tornado in case something like this happened," said Tails matter-of-factly as though transforming aircraft were a normal occurrence. "I learnt how to do it in _Alternate Modes for Aircraft Made Easy_" he said producing yet another book from the glove compartment.

"You really did read a lot at the beach," said Sonic who was both immensely proud and a little concerned of his little brother's sudden transformation into child prodigy, maybe it was something in the water.

"Yep," said Tails who was swelling with pride, "I also built this little computer for me to use, I call it the Tails Electric."

"So that's what that is," said Sonic.

The swarm of black dots had now greatly closed their distance with the Tornado X and they could see that the dots were grey humanoid robots with twin jet engines strapped to their backs and each holding a large gun in their hands. At the head of this aerial armada was…

"Dr Robotnik!" Sonic and Tails said simultaneously in surprise.

"That's Dr Robotnik?" said Chip who was looking at the corpulent despot through a pair of binoculars, "wow, he really does look mean!"

"All wings, attack!" yelled Robotnik to his robots as he made a mighty gesture at the incoming Tornado X. With a bellow of gunfire they launched a massive salvo of ordnance at the little red craft and when they finally stopped firing it was no longer there.

"YES! Take that Son…"

Dr Robotnik was interrupted by the Tornado X surging upwards in front of his Egg-O-Matic causing it to spin from top to bottom. When he stabilised the craft he saw Sonic above him making a challenging grimace with his tongue sticking out.

"GET THEM!" he roared as he climbed up to intercept the red aircraft.

His robots joined him in the pursuit, they fired their guns at the aircraft and Tails ducked, dodged and dived to avoid the luminous streams of tracers and the grey, dull explosions of flak shells, he was sweating profusely.

"Sonic! Use the rear machine gun!" he said pushing another button causing the top of the rear fuselage to open up to reveal a grey machine gun.

Sonic gingerly took hold of it, aimed at the robots and pulled the trigger. With a loud chuddering sound a burst of bullets spewed out of the gun and to his satisfaction he saw the stream of bullets make contact with two of the robots and explode.

"Eh, this is good, but I can do it faster" said Sonic with a shrug and without a moment's hesitation he leapt out of the aircraft.

"Sonic, no!" yelled Chip.

But to his relief he saw that Sonic had not fallen but instead had curled up into his famous spinball and had collided into one of the robots, ripping it apart and causing an explosion in his wake, propelling himself by unknown means Sonic spindashed into another robot with the same results, then another, a fourth, a fifth, a sixth. He smashed apart a twentieth and began to free-fall, and as if by dramatic effect he landed into the back seat of the Tornado X.

Tails had observed all this open mouthed and said to Sonic on his return "Wow, you sure got a lot of them..."

"Yeah but there're still about a hundred of them!" shouted Sonic ducking below a stream of bullets that nearly hit his head.

"We can try and outrun them!" said Chip.

"Or we can go through them!" said Sonic with fire in his belly.

"But that's really dangerous!" protested Chip.

"Yeah?" said Tails also fired with the thrill of the battle, "then let's get, (Sonic coughed) er, them," he ended lamely.

In one fell swoop the Tornado X rolled to the left and charged full speed towards the swarm of robots. Tails depressed the red button on top of the right handle of his Tails Electric and the laser cannons basted a torrent of destruction as the white hot laser bolts collided with the packed robots. Sonic then leapt up high and again smashed apart robot after robot, delivering swift and deadly kicks, punches and buzzsaw-like spines to each on comer. Tails was constantly glancing up to see the blue blur that was Sonic in readiness to catch him, but he did not have much time to worry. He was constantly rolling and turning the aircraft to dodge robots and incoming fire and eventually found himself being followed by a group of three, their guns blazing, he clenched his teeth and pulled back on the controls. He felt the weight of the g-force on his chest and for a brief moment began to see his vision blacking out, but he managed to complete the loop and blew away the robots. Chip was ecstatic and yelling orders into Tails's ear.

"Yeah! Get 'em! Take that! Do a barrel roll!"

Tails however didn't hear him but gritted his teeth and continued to run rings around the robots. As this was going on Robotnik had been observing the battle from a distance with a small squadron, he was getting progressively more and more furious as the two freedom fighters whittled down his machines.

"Right!" he said, "let's get that pesky little fox and watch Sonic fall!" he laughed manically and once again cried "charge!"

The squadron descended upon the fight, Robotnik at the head. Sonic had landed back on the Tornado X having disembowelled another flying drone; he looked up at the approaching re-enforcements.

"Look out Tails! Old Buttnik himself is coming this way," said Sonic with apprehension.

Robotnik's wingmen unlike the other robots were armed with missile launchers and so fired a series of heat seeking missiles; they had no regard for friend or foe and a couple collided with their lesser comrades already in the fight. Tails then found to his dismay that several Badniks were heading directly towards him from the front, thinking quickly he accelerated to higher speed towards the Badniks he rolled the Tornado X round and around in an aileron roll to avoid the oncoming bullets as well as pitching up and down.

"Tails you're gonna hit them!" yelled Sonic who had slipped and now clung onto the wing for dear life.

Sonic then felt Tails pulling the aircraft up, the wind cut into his face and he felt his cheeks rippling, certainly his face was more comical than terrified. Then he felt the force of a big explosion below him, and as Tails applied full rudder to yaw in order to perform his stall turn and descend back down Sonic could see that the robots and the missiles had collided with each other. However before Sonic could say anything the aircraft was now descending and with a great sweeping motion pulled out in the direction where Robotnik was coming from.

As they approached Robotnik Tails opened fire with the laser cannon and felled three more Badniks. Robotnik responded with his own volley of fire, and he wasn't a slouch when it came to aerial combat. Bullets tore through the upper left wing and the three boys gasped as Tails tried to maintain control. They were still closing in on each other yet Tails could not bring himself to fire at Robotnik, or at least not directly, Badniks were one thing but Robotnik was a person, no matter how vile…

However before Tails could have a crisis of conscience Sonic propelled himself into the air. While in flight he spun around like a tornado and landed neatly on Robotnik's Egg-O-Matic dressed as an air steward.

"I hope you're enjoying your flight sir," said Sonic with cool politeness.

"Get off you blasted…!" began Robotnik.

He received a vanilla pie right in the face from Sonic, "enjoy your in-flight meal sir," said Sonic courteously.

Robotnik exploded in a fit of rage, "Y-YOU… GRRRUGHDOYUSHU!" he spluttered trying to wipe the pie off his face

As he did so Sonic bent over to look at the control panel, "oh wow, look at all these buttons!" he said in an imbecilic voice, "what does this one do?" he yanked out a knob along with a trail of wires "Oooops!" he said with an exaggerated look of contrition and embarrassment.

"That's the airbrake!" yelled Robotnik now wild-eyed and making grabs at Sonic which the blue hedgehog lightly sidestepped from.

"You said brake?" said Sonic in the same imbecilic tone, "oh, okay."

He then jabbed the knob into the control panel and with a whine of electronic sounds and sparks the dashboard of the Egg-O-Matic began to shut down. The craft then began to lose altitude.

"Well, seeya! Hope you enjoyed your flight with Air Sonic! Have a good crash!" said Sonic with a sardonic salute to Robotnik as he back-flipped off the Egg-O-Matic.

"I, _hate_, that, hedgehog!" was all Sonic could hear as he spread out his arms and legs and began to reach terminal velocity. "Now where is Tails?" he said looking around.

Then he saw the Tornado X, it was definitely worse for wear now that he had a good look at it and even though he landed perfectly in his seat Tails gave him a grim look.

"We're in pretty bad shape; we'll have to turn back…" he began.

"What's that?" said Chip who was pointing ahead.

They looked as saw that they were heading into an ominous dark cloud.

"Right, back into normal mode" said Tails pressing the same green button he had pressed earlier.

The plane reconfigured itself back into its regular mode but the cloud was now enveloping them and they could barely see anything at all. Then came the turbulence, the whole plane shook and trembled and Chip held on tight to Sonic.

Suddenly there was a flash and a bolt of lightning came down and struck the Tornado with a bang.

"Whoa!" said Tails now petrified with fear as he saw that the wing was on fire.

"Chip! Put the fire out!" said Sonic pressing a small fire extinguisher to Chip's body.

However before anyone could do anything the plane finally seemed to give up and the engine started to spluttered, They began to lose altitude…

* * *

**A.N.: Well another chapter done! I suppose if this was a multi-part AoStH arc this would be the ending of a 30 or 40 minute first part. I know I'm making these chapters longer but I am trying to keep it down to 4000 words max. Anyway, I really enjoyed writing this and I hope I got the right mix of action and gags.**


	7. Pickle In A Pickle

Tails held onto the flight stick with a vice-like grip, cold sweat now dripping down his face as he desperately tried to keep the Tornado steady. The wing was still burning and Sonic throwing caution to the wind jumped up onto it with the small fire extinguisher that he found at the end of his feet and put the small blaze out with a few squirts of the trigger. However the wing was still close to breaking apart.

"Sonic! Try and fix the wing!" yelled Chip who threw him a roll of duct tape.

Sonic had no idea whether duct tape would do any good but it would afford some comfort to have a wing without a gaping hole in it. He sped round and round the wing and within a second the wing had a slivery-grey bandage around its middle. Sonic returned to his seat and Chip latched onto his arm.

"Thanks Sonic," said Tails who had only seen the events from the corner of his eye such was his concentration.

They descended from the clouds and saw below them the great continental divide.

"We better make it or…" Sonic couldn't finish, the thought of what would happen if the plane didn't make it to the continent was too horrible to imagine.

The whole craft was vibrating unsteadily as they continued to lose altitude, the engine occasionally spluttering or making a small bang. As they drew near to the lip of the continent ahead of them Chip clasped Sonic's arm even tighter. Closer they came to the rugged crust of the continental plate; they could see a huge stretch of ocean cascading over the edge like a mighty waterfall ahead of them. Sonic's felt like his heart was in his throat, they were not going to make it, they were going to crash into the sea and fall off the edge of the world.

"Does this thing turn into a seaplane?" he said in one final desperate effort to find any escape.

Tails's voice was hollow, "no," was all he said.

Metre by metre, inch by inch they drew closer to the continent, Tails willed the plane with all his might to stay aloft and gain altitude. They were now only 30 feet away from the edge, 20, 10…

In a great arc the Tornado flew over the edge barely 20 feet from the water. Any mistake and they would crash into the raging azure below, but instead they continued to fly, and actually began to rise thanks to the ground effect created by the water. On board everyone breathed a sigh of relief and for a moment there was a feeling of joy, then Sonic brought them back to reality.

"We still have to get to dry land Tails," he said warily.

"I hope we have enough fuel," said Tails tapping the fuel gauge which was reading only one-fifth left.

They continued to fly over the waves; the drop in altitude seemed to have made the flight more stable. Yet the aircraft still felt rickety and Tails was not prepared to lower his guard. They flew for another 30 minutes before Tails let out a cry.

"Land! Land ahoy!"

Sonic looked over Tails shoulder and Chip looked over Sonic's to see that indeed there was a stretch of yellowish land ahead of them. They moved closer and closer and as they did could make further details, the coast they were approaching was comprised of many brown rocky outcrops and behind them vast stretches of what looked like tropical forests. Their faces fell.

Sonic shook his head, "That doesn't look like Apotos to me."

Tails turned on the GPS system on his Tails Electric and gasped. So intense was their battle in the air that they had completely failed to notice that their fight had diverted them by several miles off course.

"We're in Mazuri!"

"Well better Mazuri than the centre of Mobius" said Sonic, "we better find a place to land."

* * *

They found a small airstrip which was barely more than a dirt track with a few shacks surrounding it and landed. Not a moment too soon either as the engine wheezed and gave several popping noises before making one final bang. Tails got out and opened up the engine compartment only to receive a cloud of noxious smoke in the face, when he turned to Sonic his face was blackened. Sonic couldn't help but chuckle.

The fox wiped his face with his tails, "well I think we're stuck here for now."

"How about we let one of the mechanics here fix it while we get something to eat?" said Sonic.

"Yeah! I'm starving!" said Chip excitedly.

They found an ancient meerkat mechanic wearing an oily jumpsuit sleeping in a deckchair on a porch in front of a hut and after waking up with a start he agreed to fix their plane while they went into the nearby town. The trio set off down a dusty road and soon found themselves at a small village. In the centre was a huge baobab tree which towered over the surrounding mud and wattle huts.

"Wow…" said Chip, awestruck by the size of the tree which had been hollowed out and had what looked like a shop inside it.

"Doesn't look very high-tech though," said Sonic with apprehension.

As if to dispel his aspersions a white van whizzed past them causing all three of them to spin round like tops, the van stopped outside a house and two dogs jumped out and delivered a 50 inch plasma screen TV to a man before zooming off again in a cloud of dust.

"Good thing you didn't say they didn't look heavily armed," said Tails wryly.

As they walked into the village they saw two black men, one young and tall, the other old and squat approaching them. They both wore bright red robes and while the younger man had a cheerful countenance the elder possessed a more chiselled look which made him look like a walnut, he was also hunched over on a little walking stick and wore what looked like a crown of beads.

"Greeting young fellows!" said the older man in a croaky voice, "and welcome to our humble village. I am Gwek, the Village Elder, and who may you be?"

Before Sonic could answer the younger man cut in.

"Oh grandfather I told you! This is Sonic the Hedgehog!" he said in a reverent tone and gesturing to the blue hedgehog.

"Yep, that's my name don't wear it out!" said Sonic, whose ego had been stroked by his recognition. "And this is Tails and Chip," he said indicating to the two, both of whom gave a friendly wave.

"My name is Yawa," said the young man, "pleased to meet you, I've heard of all your adventures."

Sonic blushed.

"So what brings you here?" said Gwek now resting on his walking stick with both hands.

"Well to tell the truth our plane was sent off-course and we had to make an emergency landing," said Sonic.

"We got into a fight and then this _great_ big storm!" explained Chip excitedly.

"A storm you say?" said Yawa in a knowing voice while wagging his finger reproachfully. "Ah, that means the spirits must have brought you here."

"The spirits?" said Tails, confused.

"Indeed," said Gwek, "we were hosting a learned man from afar while he studied at some local ruins, then a group of fearsome machines came and took him away in the night. The next day the spirits were greatly angered and caused tremors that I hear have broken the planet apart! The spirits must have brought you here to save him."

Sonic suddenly felt uncomfortable, the guilt of having caused the planet's fragmentation refused to leave him and he was silent.

"That sounds like something Robotnik would do!" said Tails in a worried voice.

The unease left Sonic and he set his mind on the issue at hand, "who was it that was kidnapped?"

"His name was Professor Pickle," said Yawa.

"Professor Pickle?!" Sonic, Tails, and Chip said simultaneously in consternation.

"You know him?" said Gwek with a puzzled look.

"Yes," said Tails, "we were on our way to see him before we were blown off-course."

"Aha!" cried Yawa with triumph, "this proves the spirits meant you to come here!"

"Either that or the writers," muttered Chip under his breath.

"Alright so what way were they heading last?" said Sonic eagerly, squatting down and stretching his hamstrings, he was bursting to get back at Robotnik.

"The machines have gathered around the temple the Professor was studying 10 miles from here," said Gwek sternly, "I assume they would have taken him there."

"Which way is it?"

"That way," said Gwek pointing in the direction of the temple.

"Well in that case I'm up (Sonic jumped into the air) over (he curled up into a ball and spun round) and _gone_!" Sonic zoomed off in the direction of the Elders finger.

Tails also jumped up and rotated his tails to speed off after Sonic, Chip simply fluttered his wings as fast as they could take him (which was a considerable speed) and said "hey wait up!"

Tails soon caught up with Sonic as did Chip a short bit later and the three sped off though the vast sweeping grasslands of Mazuri. Occasionally they passed a herd of gazelle or a pride of lions which looked after the trail of dust they left in their wake in wide-eyed surprise. A cheetah in pursuit of a zebra was so dismayed at being outpaced by the blue blur he completely forgot about his prey and sulked off back to his coalition.

"Do you think that this temple is another Temple of Gaia?" said Tails hopefully.

"Luck has been on our side so far keed," said Sonic, _let's just hope it holds up_.

* * *

They arrived at the temple, like the last one it was a vast complex of buildings. This time made of sandstone and mud this temple was made up of more blocky shapes and was generally cruder in design than the one in Apotos but no-less impressive in scale. They could see a small camp nearby with a group of Badniks milling about.

"Yep, Professor Pickle is definitely here," said Sonic who like at Apotos was observing the situation behind the cover of some ruins.

"How're we going to bust him out?" said Tails.

"Like this…"

E-122342 was having another uneventful day while on guard duty, the prisoner was being very unreasonable with his demands for better quality cucumber sandwiches and none of his fellow Badniks could cater to his tastes. His mood therefore brightened somewhat when he saw two short mobians, one brown, one blue, in white overalls and flat caps pushing a laundry cart; anything to take away from the monotony of guarding was good enough.

The rotund (like its creator) metallic-cyan robot stuck out a stubby arm and said in a synthesised voice, "halt, state your business."

"Hi, we're here to pick up today's laundry," said the blue mobian.

"We do not have a laundry service," came the monotone reply.

The shorter brown mobian then spoke up, "you have to excuse my friend, he gets things muddled up; we've come to check the gas meter."

The blue mobian turned on him, hands on hips, "no," he said testily, "we check the gas on _Wednesdays_; today is _Thursday_!"

"No, _Wednesdays_ are when we deliver _pizzas_; _Thursday_ is when we do the laundry, besides, today's Friday!"

"Well if it's _Friday_ then we should be fixing telephones!" said the blue mobian now pressing his nose against the brown mobian's, his voice rising.

"Oh yeah?" shouted the brown mobian, fists clenched, arms pointing to the ground.

"_Yeah_!"

While E-122342 was engrossed in this display he failed to notice one of the blankets in the laundry cart move. Chip silently flew behind the Badnik's back and opened a little door, behind which the on/off switch was, he flicked it. With an electronic purr the lights in E-122342's eyes went out and he leaned forward slightly, arms loose. Chip flew back into the laundry cart.

"Good work Chip!" said Sonic as he pushed the cart into the camp.

None of the robots questioned them as they went past; if E-122342 had let them in they _must_ have a reason to be there. The trio entered the largest tent and passed another guard, who despite buying the laundry excuse was deactivated for good measure, and found the cage where Professor Pickle was kept.

Professor Pickle was, quite literally, a giant living pickle; with arms, legs, little yellowish pimples, grey hair, and a face with a long bulbous nose and massive grey eyebrows which completely covered his eyes.As for clothing he had a fine tailor-made brown blazer, white shirt with collar and red bow tie.

He looked up at them, "oh, hello there," he said in an unconcerned manner.

He spoke in a polite refined English accent and despite his odd appearance seemed to exude an air of great intellectual gravitas.

"Please tell me you've brought the Earl Grey tea I asked for, It would be rather nice."

"Actually we've come here to rescue you," said Sonic taking off his cap.

"Hmm, that's a pretty decent thing for you to do," said the Professor as though Sonic had just told him that he had de-weeded his mother's garden.

Sonic opened the bars with a clean sweep of his buzzsaw spin and the door to the cage fell open.

"Quick, get under the blankets!" said Tails.

"Oh alright then," said the Professor who was taking the whole endeavour in a very casual manner.

They bungled him into the cart and walked out of the camp whistling in a manner professing complete innocence. Once out of the camp and having made a safe distance Sonic and Tails threw off their disguises and Professor Pickle got out of the cart along with Chip. Sonic then began to make introductions.

"Hi Professor," he said shaking the professor's hand, "I'm Sonic, and this is Tails and Chip."

"Pleased to meet you boys, I was rather getting tired of the food in that place," said Professor Pickle, cracking a smile.

"Ooh that must have been terrible!" said Chip, the thought of having to eat bad food sending shivers down his spine.

"Well they were less pleasant than my last hosts," reflected the professor.

"Professor, we've got a ton of questions for you; but first I want to know if this is a Temple of Gaia," asked Sonic.

"It is my boy," said the professor.

"Right, and if I find a pedestal inside and put a 'Chaos Emerald' on it, it put the planet back together?"

The professor was surprised by this, "you seem very knowledgeable about Light & Dark Gaia," he said guardedly.

"It's a long story, I'll explain later," said Sonic who was really not looking forward to telling everyone including Chip and Tails that he was directly responsible for the whole mess. "Can you get us inside the temple professor?"

"Of course I can, I came here to study it on my own before these ruffians kidnapped me," said Professor Pickle, "follow me!"

The professor took them to a small stone slab nearby.

"Help me lift this," he said.

With a great heave Sonic and Tails shifted the slab to reveal a flight of stairs leading into darkness. They peered into the blackness.

"You bring a light?" said Chip.

Sonic turned his head, "no."

"Don't worry, I know my way," said the professor, "follow me."

He led them down a passage then stopped suddenly causing Sonic, Tails and Chip to bump into each other with an ouch.

Professor Pickle was quite unconcerned, "there's a hidden door here," he said feeling the wall.

He pressed a brick causing the door to slide open. They carried on in this manner until eventually they reached a large chamber similar to the one in Apotos. Little shafts of light came in through holes in the ceiling and revealed ornate carvings on the walls, and there at one end was a large altar-like dais. They went up to the dais and like before Chip's necklace glowed and the pedestal rose from the dais and Sonic placed the Chaos Emerald onto it. It glowed a bright ruby red and there was a faint tremor.

"Wow, we did it!" said Tails, hardly believing that they had already put back another continent.

Bang.

The main door burst open and Scratch and Grounder appeared holding guns with large canisters attached. Before Sonic could even turn round they fired a thick stream of sticky purple liquid at the group's feet, trapping them in place.

"Aw yuck!" said Sonic, "Mega Muck!"

They tried moving their feet but to no avail as the two Badniks advanced on them guffawing.

"Baw-ha haha!" crowed Scratch, "We got you now Hedgehog!"

"Yeah!" said Grounder, "and Professor Pickle too! Dr Robotnik will be _really_ pleased with us now!"

They clad them all in manacles (they even had a pair of tiny handcuffs for Chip) and dragged them out of the temple where a large number of Badniks were gathered.

"We came here to pick up Professor Pickle while Dr Robotnik went out to deal with you," said Scratch, "and now it turns out we got all of you instead!"

"Once our plane is refuelled you're coming right to Robotnik's Fortress!" jeered Grounder.

Tails looked at Sonic nervously, "what are we going to do?" he said.

Sonic was frowning; deep in thought.

"I don't know keed," he said, "but I'll think of something."

It was late in the day, and the sun was low in the sky casting long shadows on the ground. Suddenly, Sonic had an idea.

"Aww man," he said in exaggerated disappointment, "of all the times to be caught by Buttnik it would have to be here!"

"What's so special about this dump?" snapped Scratch.

"Yeah," said Grounder, "I got nothing but dust in my ventilation while I've been here!"

"Haven't you dumbots ever seen a Mazuri moonrise?"

"No," they said together.

"It's one of the most awesome things ever and you're going to miss it!"

"Yeah," said Scratch, "we can see it another time after we've taken you to Robotnik's dungeon!"

"But what if Buttnik disbands the S.S.S.S.S Squad after I'm imprisoned?" said Sonic. "Then you'd probably have to mop up the sewers like Coconuts for the rest of your life!"

Scratch and Grounder looked at each other with worried expressions.

"That's exactly what happened to us!" whispered Grounder, the grin on his face giving way to a frown.

Scratch rubbed the back of his neck nervously, "Well there's no way he can escape from us if he's glued down…"

Scratch turned back to the group, "right, we're staying to watch the moonrise, but first," he fired the Mega Muck launcher at Sonic and Tails's feet, "no running away hedgehog, baw-ha haha!"

* * *

They waited for a few hours in silence until the sun went down, Sonic then turned his head to Professor Pickle.

"Professor, I just want to warn you," he said in a whisper, "I'm about to get really big and hairy soon, I'll explain later."

The Professor blushed a little, "Sonic, it's quite normal for boys of your age to experience such changes."

Sonic also blushed, "that's not what I meant, you'll see…"

Finally, a beam of silver light emerged on the crest of the horizon and slowly grew as a full moon began to rise on the Mazui temple. For a moment everyone, even Scratch and Grounder, were awestruck by the sight.

Sonic felt the feeling of power growing inside him again, his hair started to grow, and his arms began to bulge against his manacles. Then in one great sweeping flex of his muscles he broke free of his bonds as if they were made of paper while throwing his head back to emit a piercing, terrifying howl.

Scratch and Grounder were beside themselves in fright as they took in the sight of the Werehog with its massive claws, shaggy blue pelt and brutish fangs. Professor Pickle merely opened his mouth and raised his eyebrows in wonder. With a heave of his legs Sonic tore away from the Mega Muck like it was putty and advanced on the two robots.

"S-s-stop right there!" squeaked Scratch holding up his trembling Mega Muck blaster.

Sonic didn't stop, instead he stretched out his arms and ripped the guns out of their hands and crushed them in his fists.

At that moment the other Badniks (which were called 'Egg-Pawns') rushed in to save the two members of the S.S.S.S.S. Squad. Sonic threw haymaker punches at each one of the oncoming robots which flew away as his fist collided with them with the force of a locomotive. The Egg-Pawns then surrounded Sonic in a circle and charged as one, Sonic chuckled, jumped onto the balls of his feet, outstretched and extended his fists and spun round like a living flail. The Badniks were flung off like pinballs from this whirlwind of doom and within moments none remained.

Scratch and Grounder now clung to each other in paroxysms of terror as the Werehog continued his advance.

Scratch then began to cry, "I'm too young to be dismantled!"

"Oh, I'm not going to hurt you two," said the Werehog in a deadly growl, "I'm just going to send you home in a box…"

* * *

**Author's Note:**** Don't worry Scratch and Grounder fans the Werehog tends to exaggerate a bit, _or does he_?**

**(But seriously I just _had_ to make a _Sonic Lost World_ reference)**


End file.
